Theatre as Holy Script (review)

As Shimon Levy writes in his introductory chapter, "The odd couple Holiness and Theatricality have long been strange stage fellows, who have suffered and enjoyed ups and downs in their complicated relationship. . . . Lately they have appeared to have revived a middle-aged intimacy" (1). Whether this rapprochement has resulted from a natural societal fluctuation between secularism and religiosity or from a postmodern inclination to value the spiritual, theatre scholars of all types do indeed seem to be finding the interface of religion and theatre a productive site for research. Levy's book makes an important contribution to this trend by clarifying the relevance of religion to theatre and also by demonstrating the vast variety of topics and scholarly approaches available. Whether their interests in theatre are critical or historical, theoretical or practical, religious or secular, readers will find much in this book to inform, challenge, and stimulate them.

Theatre and Holy Script comprises nineteen chapters developed from presentations at the International Federation of Theatre Research conference in Tel Aviv in June 1996. Although one chapter discusses ancient Scandinavian ritual and one treats classical Greek religion, most of the authors write from the perspectives of Judaism or Christianity. Levy provides a helpful introduction with a one-paragraph summary of each of these chapters. Eleven illustrations, an index, substantial documentation, and thumbnail biographies of the contributors all enhance the usefulness of the book.

The demographics of the contributors suggest the variety as well as the limitations of the perspectives in the book. Seven contributors, including the editor, come from Israel. The next largest group, five in number, comes from universities in the United States. Of the remaining authors, three are from England, two each from Germany and Norway, and one from Poland. Ten of the essayists plus the editor are male, and nine are female. All of the contributors are academics, and four are also theatre practitioners. Given the unifying focus of the collection, it is interesting that only one writer—a former Catholic who is now an atheist—makes any overt claims about his own religious beliefs.

The nineteen chapters present a rich variety. They examine theatrical phenomena reaching from 10,000-year-old stone carvings to reenactments of Yitzhak Rabin's assassination, which occurred just eight months prior to the conference. They analyze materials on a spectrum from holy, non-theatrical texts (the biblical book of Job and the Regularis concordia) to a proto-performance art scenario (Mallarmé's Livre) to religious plays (Dorothy Sayers's cathedral plays) to secular film (The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Dassin's A Dream of Passion). In scholarly approach, they include theoretical speculation, dramatic analysis, historical exposition, and what might best be called manifesto. In style they vary from carefully structured, clearly stated, logic-based, lineal treatises to non-logocentric, suggestive, configurative statements.

Highlighting several chapters suggests some of the range and pleasures of the book. Readers without much background in religious theatre would do well to start with Kazimierz Braun's historical essay, "Religious Theatre in a Totalitarian Atheistic State: The Polish Experience," because Braun begins with a two-page definition and typology of religious theatre that can scarcely be surpassed for clarity and conciseness. He goes on to survey religious theatre in Poland from 1940 to 1989, discussing writers, groups, performers, and plays. The details clearly support his contention that Polish religious theatre always challenged the principles of totalitarian control.

Also in a historical vein, Jon Nygaard's chapter "Are the Rock Carvings of the North the First Sources of Theatre in Europe?" argues that these Scandinavian carvings, dating from 8000 BCE to 1000 BCE, functioned as pre-literate scenarios for rituals and quasi-religious performances; as such, they are theatrical texts that predate the Greek tragedies by at least 500 years. Katherine B. Free's "Thespis and Moses: The Jews and the Ancient Greek Theatre" analyzes the fragmentary script Exagoge, written by a Jew named...